Easy Recipe for Guacamole (5 Minutes!)
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I have been making this easy guacamole recipe at least once a week for years and have learned some tricks to make it the best. With nearly 500 reviews, you can trust that this guacamole recipe is perfect every time.
Making guacamole is incredibly simple, so don’t be intimidated. I’ll show you how it’s done with just a few simple ingredients in about 5 minutes.
And the proof is in the comments. Renee writes, “This is my go-to recipe for guacamole now. I make it for every party and event and get tons of compliments on how amazing it is.” And Kimberly wrote, “I made this for the first time for a cinco de mayo party and now it’s my go to guac. It’s so easy to make!”
Key ingredients
There are lots of different ways you can make guacamole. After years of making my favorite dip, I’ve found that the best result comes when you use just a handful of fresh ingredients. This recipe is my go-to, and how I make it 90% of the time.
- Lime juice: Fresh limes are always best!
- Garlic: Finely minced so you don’t end up biting into chunks of garlic.
- Avocados: The star of the show.
How to choose a ripe avocado
Selecting a perfectly ripe avocado can be challenging: opt for one that’s under-ripe, and you’ll be met with a hard, inedible texture. Go for an overly ripe one, and you’ll end up with a mushy, brown mess. Not appetizing, right? Luckily, there are tips to find a perfectly ripe avocado:
- Begin your search for ‘the one’ by looking for dark avocados. When you find one, give it a gentle squeeze. Does it give just a little without giving in and feeling hollow? Awesome! This could be the one.
- Once you’re 99% sure you’ve found a good one, look under the stem. If it looks green, you’re good to go. If it’s brown, it’s past its prime.
What if I can’t find a ripe avocado?
Finding a ripe avocado can feel like finding your soul mate; the more you want one, the harder it is to find. Use the paper bag trick to help turn an under-ripe avocado into a guacamole-ready one. All you have to do is put the avocado (or a few avocados) and an apple in a paper bag. Close the bag and set it aside on your counter. In about a day, you’ll have a ripe avocado. You can also put under-ripe avocados in your fruit bowl to help them ripen. The ethylene gas that fruit releases helps the ripening process and makes your hard avocado perfectly soft.
How to cut an avocado
To cut an avocado, hold it in your hand and cut through the skin at the stem—the top of the avocado. Now, turn the avocado so that the knife cuts all the way around to the other side. Once you’ve cut the skin, hold onto the two halves and twist them apart.
To remove the pit, tap it with the heel of your knife (the part of the blade closest to the handle). It should dig into the pit just enough for you to pull it out.
If you’re a visual learner, watch how to cut an avocado at the beginning of this video.
How to store homemade guacamole
While this guacamole recipe is best eaten shortly after it’s made, storing it in the fridge is possible. If left for too long, the avocados can oxidize, which causes them to brown. So, how do you prevent homemade guacamole from browning? Here’s the best way to store leftover guacamole:
Put it into a bowl and smooth the top with a spoon. Now, take a piece of plastic wrap and press it firmly onto the guacamole so that there are no air pockets. Your guac will stay fresh for 2-3 days in your fridge. You can also keep the avocado pits and put them back in the guacamole when refrigerating. An extra squeeze of lime juice also helps, as it creates acidic conditions that slow down the enzymes that cause browning.
You can also use parchment paper or beeswax food wraps for plastic-free storage. Neither option works as well as plastic, but we think it’s worth it. Don’t worry; the guacamole only turns a tiny bit brown on the surface, and you can use a spoon to scrape off the little bit of brown guacamole before eating the rest.
Watch how to make this recipe
Simple Guacamole Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 ripe avocados
- 1 lime
- 1-2 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Optional Ad-Ins
- 1 medium roma tomato (seeded and diced)
- ¼ cup minced white onion
- ¼ cup minced cilantro
- 1 jalapeño pepper (seeded and minced)
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
Instructions
- To cut the avocados, run a knife around the avocado (from top to bottom) and twist it in half. Pull out and discard the pit. Using a spoon or your thumb, remove the flesh and place it into a medium-sized bowl.3 ripe avocados
- Use a fork to gently mash each avocado half several times so the guacamole is creamy but still a bit chunky.
- Squeeze the lime into the bowl with the avocado. Add the garlic, salt, and any/all or none of the optional ingredients and stir them into the guacamole. Taste and add more salt if needed.1 lime, 1-2 cloves garlic, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, 1 medium roma tomato, ¼ cup minced white onion, ¼ cup minced cilantro, 1 jalapeño pepper, ½ teaspoon ground cumin
Video
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
Serving this recipe for guacamole
The classic way to eat guacamole is with crunchy tortilla chips, but it’s great served as a dip for veggies, too. Here are a few other ways to serve guac:
- Loaded onto Mexican pork carnitas.
- Dolloped on top of these Mexican nacho fries
- With some shrimp fajitas
- Or this fajita stuffed chicken
And don’t forget to treat yourself to a fizzy lime margarita!
Guacamole variations
There are plenty of other tasty things you can also add to authentic guacamole recipes, but keeping it simple with lime juice, garlic, and salt means you can whip up a bowl of guac in no time. I have a few options in the recipe card, but here are a few more you can try to really kick it up a notch. Choose one or two and make it your secret ingredient.
- Cojita or feta cheese.
- Sour cream or greek yoghurt makes the guac creamier and prevents it from browning.
- Corn for little bites of sweetness.
- Chopped fruit, like pineapple or mango, adds a tropical flair!
I smash the avocado, add fresh lime juice, salt and sour cream for creaminess.
Simple and delicious!
Made this just now because my avocado was ripe. Super great. I used Rotel tomatoes and green Chile’s cuz I had it. Just a spoonful. Garlic, salt, pepper, lime and avocado. I felt like a chef. Will make this a lot.
This is great, simple tastes the best to us regular humans.
And, how about that misinterpretation, all “authentic mexican traditions” are just ripped off from other “traditions”(i would have stated culture’s, but I.Q. isn’t mandated, obviously. And yes, i know first-hand.
These are recipes, Miss. interpret, no credibility to you.
Gotta love the simple, more is just too much sometimes.
This is not Guacamole this is aguacate con sal
Complete misinterpretation of a Authentic Mexican tradition.
This recipe turned out great! So easy!
Awesome recipe!
I absolutely loved it! I did add tomatoes and I always have diced onions to add to everything! Thanks for sharing!
Wow -this is amazing and SO simple! I’ve never made guacamole before and needed a quick recipe to make some for my wife, and it’s so, so good! I couldn’t believe how easy it was to do – and the info about ripening avocados helped even more.
So easy & yummy! I love this simply flavored guac.
Soooo easy and quick. Added onion. DELICIOUS. Thanks.
I have made this before, very easy and delicious.
I have a question, I bought a mortar in Mexican store I cannot get rid off sand , what is the trick to make it sand free. Thank you.
Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a trick. I can’t use mine for grinding things either. But it does make a pretty serving dish!
You have to season your molcajete. You can do this by grinding about ¼ cup dry white rice into a powder 3 times in the molcajete. It’s a workout but basically you are filling all the little pores in the lava rock. Then take a halved garlic clove and rub it all over the surface and brush with oil and bake in a 415°F oven for 1 hour. CAREFUL WHEN YOU TAKE IT OUT, it’s extremely hot!
Applause! Just what I was looking for to accompany my pulled pork tacos ! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Thank you!
Hi, this looks great and simple to make! Can I know how long can I store it for in the fridge?
Guacamole doesn’t keep very well. If you need to store it, cover it with plastic wrap directly on the guac (push it down gently so that no air is on the guacamole. But I would eat it within a day of making it for sure.
Simple and delicious